Street of
Shadows picks up a short time after Jedi Twilight. Much to my
chagrin, Jax and the underground group known as Whiplash have gotten Kaird off
of Coruscant
and back to his homeworld. I really liked Kaird and was sorry to
see him go, but it was nice of him to offer Jax and his friends some funding
that would keep them going for a while. Meanwhile, Rhinann has decided to stay
with Jax, Den, I-Five and Laranth. Hoping that Vader will never find him and
exact revenge for his betrayal, the Elomin is keeping himself busy as a
researcher for Jax's underground endeavors.

Those new
endeavors include finding the components to replace his the lightsaber
he was
forced to let go of in the previous novel and help a Zeltron
and her Caamasi
friend offplanet. Unfortunately, just when he is about to meet the Caamasi
artist, Jax finds he has been murdered. With the planet of Caamas having become
the Emperor's
latest target, there is no shortage of enemies on the whodunit
list, including the artist's own loyal patrons. Jax and his friends will have
to be careful as they hunt down the clues behind the Caamasi's death, for not
only is the murderer still at large, but Jax is being hunted by a trained killer
with Force abilities.

Meanwhile,
Captain Typho, former bodyguard
to Padme Amidala, has arrived on Coruscant in
search of answers. He wants to know who murdered the woman he loved from afar
so he can exact revenge. But when his research puts him in the path of the
Sith,
will Captain Typho live long enough to complete his mission?

Star
Wars: Coruscant Nights: Street of Shadows starts off interestingly enough,
revealing to us Typho's secret love for Padme and his anguish after her death
and heading straight into a murder mystery. I enjoyed unveiling clues with Jax
and his associates. I also enjoyed the fact that Michael Reaves
was still
bringing back older characters and bringing their stories some closure through
his series. Not only do we get to see what happened to Typho after Padme's
death, but we also find out what happened to bounty hunterAurra Sing.

That being
said, there are some problems with this novel. There is a point in chapter ten
of the novel when it seems as if Jax knows that Anakin Skywalker
is a Sith: "Jax
nodded thinking. Though the majority of the Jedi
had been slaughtered by the
clones
offworld, there had still been a respectable garrison at the Temple
when
Anakin Skywalker had initiated his one-man pogrom." Yet, later in the
novel, he talks as if Anakin is still a Jedi and remarks of returning something
that Anakin once trusted him with. And that is just one of the mistakes - there
are quite a few in this book that annoyed me. Also, if you read the Science
Fiction Book Club version, there are quite a few typos - hyphens in areas where
they don't belong.

I was
surprised by some of the outcomes of the novel, such as the murderer's identity
and the possibility of romantic feelings budding between two of the Whiplash
team members. I was actually very satisfied with the outcomes of Typho and
Aurra Sing. I think Reaves wrapped up those storylines quite nicely. And I
loved Vader's reaction at the end of the novel when...nope, not gonna tell ya!
You're just going to have to read it for yourself. Errors withstanding, Star
Wars: Coruscant Nights: Street of Shadows is a part of the Star Wars
Expanded Universe and not a horrible read, although I will admit that I didn't
find it to be quite on par with the first. I hope the last novel in the series
proves to be better.